Puerto Vallarta Average Condominium Sales Prices

Date: Feb 19, 2016

Author:John Youden

For many years at MLSVallarta we have reported what the average sale price is for a condominium and for 2015 it came in at US$278,000. Brock Squire at Coldwell Banker La Costa recently reported that AMPI’s Flex MLS determined a higher value of US$313,000. Now not all sales are reported through these systems, for instance many new development properties are not included. But they are a close enough guide, and it’s the best we have.

Looking back, in 2007 MLSVallarta reported that the average condominium sales price was US$351,000, which shows that the market has still not recovered from its highs. But that number was probably low back in 2007 as many developers weren’t reporting their sales prices in the MLS and they were a big part of the market. On average, they were selling usually between US$400,000 to $600,000.

That is certainly not the case today, as the only significant development taking place is focusing on the $150,000 to $300,000 price range - half of what is was back in 2007. Today’s buyer is looking for a much less expensive new condominium and I cover the reasons why in my “Sandwiched Baby Boomer” post.

A more interesting way of looking at condo pricing over the years is by “price category.” The chart below provides sold prices in categories of US$100,000 for 2015. This shows that only 8% of the sales went for over US$500,000; 71% of sales were below US$300,000. The second chart is for 2007 and it shows that back then 23% of sales were above US$500,000 (three times that of 2007) and 52% were under US$300,000. The current market is selling many more condos in the $100,000 - $200,000 range when compared to nine years, and much less luxury condominium for more that US$500,0000.

Claudio Leone of Domus Realty refers to this as the “new reality” for both buyers, sellers and realtors in the Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit real estate markets. “The prices and activity we experienced from 2003-2008 are most likely not returning, at least not anytime soon. People have less money, or are less willing to part with as much, and therefore are demanding lower priced real estate."